that the Bulgarians captured. The victories of the Danube Army and the fall of Bucharest meant that any new offensives against the Bulgarian Third Army were unlikely. On 15 December the army went on the offensive, initially meeting little resistance until it reached the Isaccea – Tulcea line. By 5 January 1917 however all Russian forces had been thrown in retreat over the Danube and the entire Dobrudja was under the control of the Central Powers. For the remainder of the war, the Third Army remained in Dobrudja but after the capitulation of Romania and the Russian Empire its main units were transferred to the Macedonian front leaving behind only some garrison and occupation forces. After the capitulation of Bulgaria, in the last days of September 1918, the army was demobilized on 6 November. Commanders Lieutenant General Stefan Toshev (14 September 1915 – 25 November 1916) Major General Stefan Nerezov (25 November 1916 – 30 July 1917) Lieutenant General Sava Savov (30 July 1917 – 30 November 1917) Lieutenant General Georgi Todorov (30 November 1917 – 12 August 1918) The interwar years and World War II With the entry of the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine into force the Bulgarian armed forces suffered serious restrictions. Compulsory military service was abolished, the army was scaled down to only 20,000 men and the formation of units larger than a division was forbidden. In reality, the three army inspectorates continued to function unofficially under the name of "first-class garrisons". After 1928 these restrictions were gradually abolished and new mobilization plans were drawn, that envisaged the deployment initially of four field armies during war. The Third Army was once again mobilized in 1940 and consisted of the 1st, 4th, 5th and 12th infantry divisions as well as the Bulgarian navy, all under the command of General Georgi Popov. On 21 September in accordance with the Treaty of Craiova the army entered Southern Dobrudja that was returned to the Kingdom of Bulgaria after 26 years of Romanian rule. It remained there for the next several years. In September 1944 Bulgaria switched sides and declared war on Germany and the command of the Third Army was taken over by General Asen Krstev. Due to different concerns of the government this army did not directly take part in the fighting, instead it was tasked with the formation and training of different units that were later sent to the front